I’m the only avid reader in my life, and while I enjoy reading on my own, I sometimes wish I had someone to share thoughts and conversations about books with (outside of a book club or one-off posts online).
I’m curious: have any of you formed friendships that revolve mainly around reading and discussing books one-on-one? How did those connections start?
by atoz_0to9
7 Comments
I met one friend who I knew elsewhere but is into books and writing at a book festival/event. We talk about books.
Books are like a secret language. If i meet someone and we both read the same book, I use it as an ice breaker and it usually works pretty well!
I have a writer friend and we sometimes read together. We joined an online writing group and out of 18 people we were the only ones who kept showing up for each other. We’ve become really good (online) friends and I’m supposed to meet her irl for the first time this year!
Have an irl book friend I met at a book con. Literally we just ran into each other and then found out we had a bunch of freakish commonalities including living 2 blocks away from each other. Grabbed a coffee and then several more, now we are book swapping buddies.
I’ve met other bookish people before but honestly one of the hardest things isn’t meeting bookish people but meeting people who have the same tastes as you. I have a lot of regular friends who read a lot but not books I am super into and vice versa.
I don’t know where you live but you can meet other bookish people at cons, book signings, or silent book clubs (if you go early you can chat a bit beforehand).
Hey I’m looking for reading buddies too! Hmu anytime you feel like talking. I’m up for it.
2 of my siblings, and one of their spouses, are avid readers. Those are of course existing bonds, but books are certainly a big part. I have a couple friends that read a good amount as well.
As for people who I’ve connected with *only* through reading… I work at a coffee shop and I have a few regulars who have become (at the very least) acquaintances because of books. They see me reading when it’s not busy, or see my books lying around, and it sparks conversation. And in fact I just met someone locally who does a book store popup. She reached out to do a popup at the cafe which, which turned out to be quite cool.
Outside of my book club, I really only have one friend I can talk to about books. Once I tried discussing sci-fi books with someone I knew who read a lot, but they didn’t seem interested. They came off a bit pretentious about the kinds of books they preferred.
In my case, it was a little interesting. My book bestie is my SIL’s SIL – let’s call her M. I’ve known her forever of course being with my SIL’s brother for ~20 years so we’ve been around a lot. Family parties for decades… Then, one day last year we started talking about books. We bonded right after sharing recommendations and loving the same genres. We’ve grown close since then!